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Police not sincere on political violence
Mavis Makuni, The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
February 21, 2008

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802210722.html

A call made last week by Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri on political parties to observe the law and to shun violence during campaigning for next month's presidential, parliamentary, senatorial and local government elections would have been a welcome and timely reminder if it were sincere.

However, an examination of the modus operandi of the police and the allegations of brutality and political partisanship regularly levelled against them would leave no one in any doubt as to who is responsible for fomenting hostilities. Chihuri was quoted as saying: "I challenge all political parties to organise rallies and meetings in accordance with the law of the land. Right now, what our people need is peace and tranquility and not aimless demonstrations, marches or processions, which waste their precious time for development."

Chihuri further urged candidates campaigning for various positions in the harmonised polls to use their words to promote healing among the people and focus on solving problems rather than apportioning blame.

"Let me, therefore reiterate that police will never treat perpetrators of violence with kid gloves." The Commissioner-General may not be aware of it, but his very utterances are part of the problem.

Chihuri cannot seriously talk about the police not treating culprits "with kid gloves" when they cannot explain their failure to arrest and bring to book individuals accused of killing or assaulting opposition activists and leaders over the years

Regular reminders by the press that, in all these years, the police have not tracked down and brought to justice these criminals as well as those who bombed the printing press of the banned Daily News continue to elicit a deafening silence from the authorities. Not only have these callous individuals been treated with kid gloves and allowed to go scot-free, some have been rewarded handsomely with cushy diplomatic jobs according to media reports that the police have not refuted.

Does the Commissioner-General remember the brutal attack on opposition and human rights leaders in March last year that left Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly and Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change with fractured skulls and swollen faces and dozens of their supporters with various forms of serious injuries?

Does he recall pictures of two defenceless women, Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinjeh, arriving in South Africa on stretchers after they had been brutally battered by the very law enforcement agents that Chihuri claims are "geared up . . . to put in place measures to combat any violence during and after the polls." Not long after this, the same police force had no qualms about setting the riot squad on the president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa and her male colleagues in broad daylight.

What has happened to the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and those who brutalised leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in October 2006 as a way to scupper a protest march they had organised to highlight the deteriorating economic conditions and collapse of service delivery systems?

The Commissioner-General cannot convince any reasonable person that the police force operates professionally and impartially when it openly interprets and enforces the law selectively and is often guilty of gross, politically expedient dereliction of duty.

Chihuri talks glibly of the people of Zimbabwe needing "peace and tranquility and not aimless demonstrations, marches or processions, which waste their time for development". But only just over a month ago in December, the police had no problem dealing with the "million-man" procession in the capital and solidarity marches that were staged in support of President Robert Mugabe's candidature in next month's elections. Can the Commissioner-General explain why he was un-perturbed over the national resources and time devoted to these activities but bristles when other stakeholders seek to similarly exercise their right to assemble and petition the government of the day?

When will the Commissioner-General tell the nation truthfully once and for all why it is that the police force can enthusiastically handle a march by a million people, but goes berserk when 200 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) embark on a peaceful Valentine's Day procession to spread a message of love and tolerance? The police cannot expect to be taken seriously for implying that they can successfully escort a procession of a million people through the Harare central business district but find four or five lawyers walking towards the offices of the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to present a petition such a threat to national peace and security that they have to deploy the riot squad.

Moreover, it is not up to the Police Commissioner-General to say which peaceful demonstrations or marches organised by citizens are aimless or a waste of time because it is the marchers who know how deeply felt their grievances are. The role of the police should simply be limited to crowd control and maintenance of law and order. In this respect, Zimbabwean police should learn the techniques used by law enforcers in other countries who routinely cope with demonstrations involving millions.

In the build-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, whole cities in Europe, the Americas and Asia were out in full force demonstrating either for or against the war and the role of law enforcers in these countries was to control the multitudes and not to crush their processions. In Zimbabwe what Commissioner-General Chihuri's police force does is to allow or ban processions or rallies along partisan political lines. It is no secret and the Commissioner-General cannot deny that while events organised by opposition and civic groups are routinely banned, disrupted or crushed altogether, this never happens with regard to those organised by the ruling party.

Last week, this newspaper published a disturbing report giving statistics on pre-election violence collated by the Zimbabwe Peace Project. The research shows that the majority of violent incidents were perpetrated by members of the ruling party. While all culprits must be brought to book regardless of political affiliation, it is an open secret that the police would rather fabricate charges against innocent members of opposition groups than prosecute members of the ruling party even if the evidence against them is as high as the Nyanga and Chimanimani mountains. My question is what action do the police plan to take in connection with the political violence already raging in the provinces.

It is not enough to issue ambiguous statements about police preparedness to ensure peace during the elections without responding to allegations about the deployment of youth militias to intimidate rural voters.

Independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni has hit the nail on the head by declaring that he wants next month's polls to be a "contest of ideas" during which no stones, knives, fists should feature. "No one is worth dying for", he was quoted as saying. "Not President Robert Mugabe, Arthur Mutambara, Morgan Tsvangirai. Certainly not Simba Makoni. No one is worth killing for."

A refreshingly clear, direct and un-ambiguous message that every presidential candidate should be preaching. It would also make a potent theme for law enforcement agents if the police force had not been so seriously compromised and suborned.

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